Jackson Creek Middle School
Read a Review
Mrs. Nowlin's 7th Grade Language Arts Class read reviews about various books and then they wrote their own. These are some of the reviews they wrote.
Anne Frank: the
Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (translator
B.M. Mooyart)
Bantam, 1993
Genre: Nonfiction/ Autobiographical
Reviewed by Alyse C-P
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is about a Jewish teenager living during the Holocaust. She receives a blank diary as a thirteenth birthday present, and weeks later are taken into hiding because her life is at risk in Nazi occupied Amsterdam. The diary tells the story of her life in hiding, about her cramped living quarters and her somewhat cranky roommates.
I think Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl was an amazing diary, and was beautifully written. While what anne and al of the Jewish people endured was cruel and should never have happened to anyone, she wrote her accounts beautifully and eloquently.
Eragon by Christopher
Paolini
Random House, 2002
Genre: Fantsy
Reviewed by: Sophie K.
Eragon is about a 15-year-old boy named Eragon. One day while he is hunting in the spine (a mountain range), he discovers a shiny blue stone. He takes it home and forgets about it for a while. Then one day, it begins to crack and Eragon discovers that it is a dragon egg. Once it hatches, a group of people starts coming after Eragon and his dragon, named Saphira. They have to run away with no one but an old storyteller to guide them. They encounter many obstacles but make it through because Eragon and Saphira can communicate telepathically.They make it to the Vardan, a group of people, who will keep them safe, only to discover that an elf woman is in trouble and desperately needs help. The next book is entitled Eldest.
This book is very good. It has well developed characters and places and is very interesting. It really has great descriptions and places to get you hooked on it. I also like that the author began writing it when he was fifteen and graduating from high school. I can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy.
A Great and Terrible Beauty by
Libba Bray
Delacourt Books, 2003
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Fantasy
Reviewed by: Rosalyn S.
A Great and Terrible Beauty is a dark, engaging story about sixteen- year- old Gemma, a girl growing up in India during the Victoria Era. One day while walking in the market place, Gemma experiences a brush with the supernatural. After a fight with her mother and a strange interaction with a stranger, she has a vivid vision of her mother being murdered. She wakes up to find her mother has committed suicide. The book then really takes off, telling of Gemma's adventures at a British boarding school and her making friends and enemies. She also stirs up information and trouble by contacting strange and familiar people and also by trying to understand the power inside herself.
At first, this book seemed like just another coming of age story about a girl who doesn't wish to follow in the path laid out for her. As the story progressed, however, the unique flavor of the book was made clear. The supernatural element of the book offered a dark, mysterious quality, and at no point is it clear whether the many different forces are good or evil. In the same way, every major character is complete and flawed. After the expository chapters, the story flows quickly and smoothly.
His Dark Materials Trilogy: Golden
Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass
by Philip Pullman
Alfred A. Knopf, 1995
Genre: Fantsy
Reviewed by: Emma B.
Lyra Belacqua is a happy, ordinary child living at Jordan College in Oxford until one night when her uncle, Lord Asriel, arrives and brings with him news of a world behind the Aurora Borealis. He also discusses armored bears, the arctic, and strange elementary particles called "dust." Lyra suddenly finds herself amidst the swirl of lies, snow, angels, and the sweetly poisonious Mrs. Coulter, who is trying to destroy the "dust" forever. As Lyra travels farther away through the cluster of worlds, she starts to unravel the mystery of "dust" and the universe.
The Dark Materials Trilogy is a wonderful, thought provoking trilogy. Pullman uses amazing descriptive words and puts them together in such a way that you truly feel like you have met the characters and have followed them through the worlds. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, fantasy, religion, philosophy or just good writing and staggering ideas.
In the Middle of the Night
by Robert Cormier
Bantam Books, 1997
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reviewed by: John M.
In the Middle of the Night is about a 16-year-old boy, Denny Colbert, who has to deal with harrassment caused by his father, John Paul Colbert. When John Paul was Denny's age, John Paul was involved in a tragedy that killed 22 children. Although he was cleared of the charges, someone out there can not forget. Every fall, someone calls in the middle of the night to scream at John Paul while he listens to it without saying anything. While Denny is growing up, he was not allowed to answer the phone because his parents did not want him to get involved. But now that Denny is 16, he just wants to be like everyone else. So one day he answers the phone. He enjoys listening to the person at the other end of the line becasue she is nice when she is talking to Denny. Denny falls into an over the phone relationship and finally sets up a time to meet her only to later find out that he has fallen into a trap.
I thought that this book was really well written. I really enjoy how Cormier tells the reader both sides of the story. For example, when Denny thinks he is getting in a relationship over the phone with the woman, the next chapter tells the reader what the woman over the phone is thinking. So it not a total surprise what happens to Denny, but instead, you think earlier, "Oh oh, he is falling into a trap." I think that this style of writing is better.
Life of Pi by Yann
Martel
Random House, 2003
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reviewed by: Patrick B.
This book involves a young adult, Pi Patel, who lives in India and his father who owns a zoo. Pi grows up at the zoo and learns about the animals. As Pi grows up, he makes a strange decision. He becomes a Christian and a Jew, along with his native religion, Hindu. Later on, he and his family move to Canada with the zoo. They travel on a barge which crashes. Pi manages to escape on a lifeboat, but only with the company of an orangutan, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger. He must find a way to survive the trip and get to his family.
I really enjoyed this book. The storytelling element is great and Yann Martel really connects you with the character Pi. The book also makes you think deeply about your beliefs and faith in everything. In many parts of the book, you will find yourself laughing aloud. In other instances, you will be thinking to yourself about the topics the book addresses. Many books are a good read and make you turn the pages, but this book actually has the power to make you examine yourself.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants by Ann Brashares
Delacorte Press, 2001
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reviewed by: Eleanor K. and Kathryn S.
This book is about a group of four best friends that must spend their summer apart. They find a pair of pants that magically fit every girl although they are all different sizes. These must be a magical pair of pants. All of the girls go to different places around the world. Lena goes to Greece to see her grandparents, Tibby stays at home and gets a job at a store, Wallmans. Carmen goes to South Carolina to visit her dad who is just getting remarried and Bridget goes to California for soccer camp. This is the story of four girls and a pair of pants passed to each one on their journey in the summer.
This book was very, very good. Even people who don't think books are very appealing will definitely love this book. The author, Ann Brashares brings the characters to life, their needs, wants, looks, everything. It makes you want to read the book every second of your day. However, this book would probably only appeal to girls around the ages of 12-20 because it is a very "girly" book (Eleanor K.).
This book is about four great firends who are spending the summer apart from each other for the first time ever. Because of this they use a pair of pants that fits all of them very well to keep in touch with each other. Every week, someone new gets sent the pants for their turn with it. Carmen is traveling to South Carolina to visit her father. Tibby is staying home and Lena is traveling to Rome. Bridget is going to a soccer camp. All of them encounter problems along the way, but they have the pants to keep them together.
I think this book was very well written and really made me want to read it. The characters are all realistic and are well described. All of the themes about where the girls are traveling are very interesting and fun to read about. It made me so I couldn't put the book down at times. The story is very realistic and one of the best books I've ever read (Kathryn S.).
Timeline by
Michael Crichton
Ballantine Books, 1999
Genre: Historical Fiction and Science Fiction
Reviewed by: Ramin R. and Ben N.
Timeline is a fantastic book! The story starts out in northern Arizona, where a couple are driving down the dirt road. All around them is desolate landscape, and it is over 100 degrees. Suddenly they hit a bump and they can barely make out an old man lying at the side of the road. When they take him to a nearby hospital, he dies of cardiac arrest. Before he dies, however, he says something about the ITC company in Black Rock, New Mexico. After that, the book is mostly about how several researchers are sent back in time using the astounding new technology that ITC has created. They are sent to the Middle Ages with only one objective: rescue their colleague, Professor Johnston. However, not everything goes as planned, and soon, it's all they can do just to survive in the harsh world of 1357.
This has been the best book I've read so far in the year. It was filled with action and adventure, and every page left me wanting more and more. However, this novel wasn't just entertaining. Michael Crichton combines adventure with history in Timeline, so that it also explains a lot about what it was like to live in the Middle Ages (Ramin R.)
Timeline is a book about a group of historians and archaeologists who are uncovering the two French castles. The archaeologists are being funded by a mysterious company called ITC. then one day one of the top archaeologists at the site goes to New Mexico to figure out what ITC is up to. When he arrives at the company's headquarters, he is sent back in time to France in the Middle Ages. Several days later, four young archaeologists are sent to retrieve the professor in a time where there is chaos around every corner.
I think that this was a very good book. I liked it because I thought that it showed the author did a lot of research on the topic. The book was not pure and absurd fairy tale, but instead educational and at the same time interesting. I also thought that this book was amazingly well written because it was able to combine fact with fiction. It also was able to grip the reader and make him or her want to read the whole book without ever putting it down (Ben N.)
Treasure Island by
Robert Louis Stevenson
Baronet Books
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Tony Gao
The book is written in the point of view of Jim Hawkins, a boy taken along on a ship bound for Treasure Island. The island was where Captain Flint, a famous pirate, hid all his treasure before he died. On board the ship was a group of disguised pirates led by Long John Silver, the "cook." They mutiny as they reach the island and the loyal crew of the ship build a shelter on the island. The pirates tried many times to steal the map from the crew, but were unsuccessful. Finally, a treaty was made, and the pirates get the treasure map. The pirates take Jim hostage and go to the spot on the map. When the they get there, they realize that the treasure was gone. The pirates turn on Long John and Jim, but were defeated by a blitzkreig by the crew. A native takes the crew, Long John, and Jim to the cave where the real treasure was hidden. They divide the treasure and go home.
It was an exciting book with lots of twists in the plot. Some parts of the story were not necessary and were difficult to understand. Overall, this was a good book. Its easy to see why it's a classic.
When Lightning Strikes
by Meg Cabot
Simon Pulse, 2001
Genre: Adventure
Reviewed by: Rachel C.
This book is about a teenage girl named Jessica Mastriani that gets hit by a bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm. When she wakes up the next morning, she suddenly knows the location of the missing children on the milk carton she looked at the day before. She calls 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU, and is able to locate the missing children. When more and more people start to find out about this "power," the press starts chasing her. As she finds more and more missing children, special agents of the FBI take her to Crane Military Base to have her tested. Then she locates a boy that actually didn't want to be found, and so now he must return to his abusive father. Jessica has to go through many challenges to fix what she shouldn't have done. In the end, the boy is saved and returned to his mother.
I think this book is very interesting. It is very intriguing and keeps you at the edge of your seat. The beginning of the book pulls the reader in. The plot of the story is well thought of and will probably interest many other people. The book is written as if a teenage girl was talking, so I think you would have to be that age to fully understand and enjoy the book. Although some parts of the book are completely unreal, I would say this is one of my favorite books.
White Fang by Jack
London
Dover Publications, 1906, 1991
Genre: Adventure
Reviewed by: Lauren T.
The story starts out with two men that are in the wilderness, sledding with their team of dogs. Every night, it seems that more and more of their dogs seem to be missing. Then they discover that there is a female wolf that leads them to the rest of the pack, and then kills and eats them. The wolf pack eventually kill the men, and are forced to separate because of famine. The female wolf, Kiche, goes with an older male, One Eye. They then have a litter of cubs. Kiche stays with the cubs, after One Eye abandons them. All of the cubs die, except for one. The one cub that is left strays away from their den and stumbles into some Indians. Kiche finds her cub and then realizes that these Indians used to take care of her before she ran away. The Indians also recognize her and name her cub White Fang. White Fang is 75% wolf, and 25% dog. White Fang lives with the Indians' leader, Gray Beaver, after his mother abandons him too. White Fang grows up with the Indians to be fierce, and strictly solitary. The Indians were careful not spoil him with human love. On one of his trips with Gray Beaver, Gray Beaver sells him to a greedy, white man named Beauty Smith. Beauty Smith has White Fang living in a locked up pen, where people bet money to see him fight lynxes, wolves and a few dogs at a time. Then a young, kind man named Weedon Scott buys White Fang from Beauty, after White Fang nearly died in a match. Weedon Scott shows White Fang a life of happiness, and even love. White Fang even learns how to not be afraid of a human hand that would usually beat or strike him, but instead now caresses him. He also learned how to bark, and do a wolf purr. White Fang then leaves with Scott to live with Scott and his family in California. After White Fang was involved in a terrible accident involving him to be shot three times, he comes back to Scott to learn that he now has cubs of his own, only with a sheep dog named Collie.
I personally liked this book. I used to have my favorite book be the series Redwall by Brian Jacques, but now this is my favorite book. I didn't get bored once when reading this book.
Zach's Lie by Roland
Smith
Scholastic Inc, 2001
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reviewed by: Jennifer S.
My book is about a boy named Jack. To get more money for his family, Jack's dad starts flying drugs over the border into Mexico. Then his father gets out of the business and men come to Jack's house when his dad is gone and they steal a bunch of stuff. Then Jack is put into the witness protection program with his mom and sister. He is moved to Elko, Nevada, and given the new name of Zach. There he starts his life over.
I really liked the book. I thought that the plot was realistic and I like the genre. The characters were also sensible, and they did things that real people would do.
Last Updated: 06/03/04
Kristina McGlaun, Librarian
Jackson Creek Middle School
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